Market Square loses Mind Games and Faull’s Comfort Shoes as exodus continues

It will soon be a case of spot the open store at Market Square as two more outlets prepare for their imminent closure.

Empty shopfronts are common throughout Market Square. Picture: Mark Wilson.

Market Square shopping centre’s first floor will soon have just three outlets with their lights on as two more businesses confirm their imminent closure.

As Mind Games and Faull’s Comfort Shoes prepare to close their doors, the foreign owners of the CBD site declined to address the seemingly never ending exodus that has created significant frustration among the community, business groups and Geelong council.

Mind Games will tread the well worn path to the other side of Malop St after its owners secured the space previously filled by GMHBA’s eye care practice at Westfield.

After 12 years at Market Square, Mind Games will be bookended by Kaisercraft and Just Threading on level one of Westfield, near the entrance to Big W.

It is expected to open within the next fortnight.

A spokesman said while its rent would jump, staying in Market Square was not an option following the end of its lease.

The move to Westfield mirrors that of Adairs last month and other outlets, including Cotton On, before that.

Mind Games is closing its Market Square outlet and moving across the road to Westfield.

Faull’s Comfort Shoes is in the midst of an end of lease sale after the decision was made to consolidate its presence to the ground floor of Market Square.

The impending exits leave Harris Scarfe, another city Kaisercraft shop and Tasty Asia as the last stores standing on an upper-level bereft of foot traffic and atmosphere.

An effort has been made by centre manager Knight Frank to disguise the empty stores common across the ground floor.

The entrance to what was previously City Chic has been converted to a Christmas display, while wallpaper with glossy photos has been plastered across multiple windows.

Santa photos will commence in the centre on November 22 and traders will be hoping that leads to an uptick in sales.

Just three stores will remain open on Market Square’s first floor. Picture: Market Square.

Most business owners have told the Addy they don’t blame Knight Frank for the centre’s demise, instead pointing the finger firmly at the secretive Singapore-based ownership group Davinski Nominees.

It is widely believed that Davinski is waiting for all leases to end before it develops the site it purchased from Geelong council for $32m in 1996 into a mixed-used facility.

But an increasingly impatient City Hall wants action now, with returned councillor and the city’s most recent mayor Trent Sullivan labelling the centre a “gaping hole” and “canker sore on the face of Geelong” in August.

His comments came after he and council chief executive Ali Wastie were snubbed by Davinski during a recent trip to Singapore.

Council has since committed to pursuing a compulsory acquisition of the site.

Davinski declined to comment when asked about the legitimacy of that approach.

Originally published as Market Square loses Mind Games and Faull’s Comfort Shoes as exodus continues